+1,000 DeeDee.
DS8 got an AS diagnosis last year, and I am still, from time to time, picking up those DSM criteria wondering what I missed, and whether we really have the right label.
For example I would have put B1 as a no, but the neuropsych found him to be a "textbook example", the kind of case that she could use to illustrate the symptom in conferences and trainings. She evaluated him smack in the middle of his first real research project for the school's science fair, and true, the only thing he talked about for 6 weeks was his research subject. I never considered his interests (animals, rocks, science...) as abnormal in focus or intensity, but then... I was the one who lived and breathed Greek and Roman mythology for a year at his age. With a GT label firmly established I got approving pats on the head and big proud smiles when I capped the reading with Homer's Illyad and Odyssey (unabridged). Without one... he gets AS and I get lectures on redirecting his interests (apparently asking me to look up information/videos on animals on Wikipedia is a red flag).
B3 was also raised -- I had never noticed (or recognized) hand flapping, but apparently he does it? I have scourged YouTube for examples and observed him, I still see nothing.
I read Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnosis of Gifted Children and Adults (recommended here, would +1). Valuable read, made me even more confused.
But anyway, the label is (excruciatingly slowly) getting us some help with the social issues at school. So I guess we got what he needed from it.
